This invention relates to a cooling device which is arranged in the front area of a motor vehicle body and is connected by way of an air guiding device with an inlet opening in the vehicle body front part, particularly in a bumper constructed as the front part.
There are vehicles which, for reasons of appearance, have a pulled-down front opening hood or engine hood so that the air inlet slots required for the engine cooling or also for the vehicle ventilation must be placed in the area of the bumper which is constructed as a front part. Guiding the air from this inlet opening to the cooling devices arranged in the vehicle body, as, for example, a coolant radiator or a so-called cooling module, which, in addition, may also contain an air-conditioning condenser connected in front or behind and/or a charge air cooler, as a rule, is difficult to achieve in such a manner that an optimal flow-through effect of the cooling device is achieved. This applies particularly when, for constructive reasons, the cooling devices are arranged laterally in the front area and not, as customary, in the center of the front area.
It is an object of the invention to provide for solutions for cooling devices of the initially mentioned type which permit a perfect guiding of air to the cooling units without a complicated construction and mounting.
For achieving this object, it is provided according to the invention in the case of a cooling device of the initially mentioned type that the air guiding device is constructed as a flow duct which adjoins a cooling device by means of a hood and which extends to the inlet opening and is provided there with an elastic wall whose ends are constructed as a surrounding sealing profile and while being elastically prestressed are placed directly on the contour of the inlet opening.
On the one hand, by means of preferred embodiments of the invention, the entering air is forced to flow through the assigned cooling device, in which case the provided flow duct may be designed according to fluidic aspects. This flow duct, which causes the entering air to flow completely and without losses through the cooling units, by means of the invention, can also very easily be connected to the inlet opening, for example, in a bumper, in a sufficiently tight manner. The separate arrangement of so-called sealing weatherstrips, which requires a high-expenditure mounting, becomes superfluous.
In a further development of preferred embodiments of the invention, the sealing profile may be provided with three sealing edges which point in different directions and which are each assigned to different areas of the inlet opening and provide the required sealing there. These embodiments have the advantage that the elastic wall of the flow duct can be placed in a sealing contact while in each case being adapted to the local conditions, so that one does not have to rely, for example, on only an interior sealing lip which would be very difficult to apply in a sealing manner and can be applied only by means of auxiliary devices.
In a further development of the invention, the sealing edges form three of the corners of a profile which is basically constructed as a trapezoid and whose side situated opposite the surface area changes into the exterior wall of the flow duct.
Advantageously, the flow duct may be constructed as a two-component part whose hood pointing to the cooling device is dimensionally stable and whose elastic wall is mounted in one piece on the dimensionally stable hood. This embodiment permits a one-piece arrangement which is easy to mount.
In a further development of the invention, the inlet opening may have an upper area reaching slightly beyond the opening center, a deflection area adjoining it which points to the vehicle center and an area which connects these two areas. In preferred embodiments of the invention, the outward-pointing sealing edge is placed in a contacting manner in the last mentioned area and the inward-pointing sealing edge is placed in a contacting manner in the first mentioned area and the sealing edge of the sealing profile which reaches the farthest to the outside is placed in a contacting manner in the deflection area. By means of this embodiment, on the one hand, the elastic features of the sealing profile can be utilized; on the other hand, however, the areas in which a certain vacuum occurs as a result of the flow can be utilized for pressing the sealing profile against the assigned wall parts of the inlet opening. Thus, in a further development of this idea, the inlet opening in the area which connects the deflection area and the area reaching beyond the opening center with one another may be framed by a groove which is open toward the flow duct and into which the sealing profile is placed. This groove preferably may be formed by a holding frame which is clipped onto the bumper having the inlet opening.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.